Chaos
by OrsonWells
Summary: *deep narrator voice* In a world that's been turned over to the dead... one man and one woman will... you get the point. TWD/TBBT crossover (about how much i could it in under 7,000 words) um it's TWD so people die, there is violence, warning you all (not that bad) and it is Shenny! enjoy! and i know this one is an odd one...
**A/N: So this has been a thing I've wanted to write for a while now, it's only a one shot and maybe one day I'll add onto it, but this is what I have so far.**

 **Um a quick, warning, there is some depictions of violence in here, not that intense, but it's there.**

 **And I messed with the timeline for TWD a bit; pretty much I just pushed the start of the ZA ahead a few years. So hopefully that isn't too confusing.**

 **Hope you al like it!**

 **(no beta etc….)**

* * *

When it started, it was simply random new breaks and paranoid people on twitter talking about it. Slowly, the daily news breaks turned to breaking news and soon the breaking news went from being on TV to happening to your next door neighbor. But pretty much everyone was ignoring it. Penny didn't pay attention when Sheldon was talking, no one was, all of them enjoying watching tv, although she picked up a few words and looked at him, he looked worried and scared, 'unknown' 'virus' kept spilling from his lips. But it was all ignored.

Leonard told her to not worry and he was just being paranoid, he'd acted this way when SARS was a thing a few years ago. She nodded and smiled and acted like it was okay. But this felt different.

She walks in on Sheldon cleaning a gun one day. She had a migraine and decided to stay home from work; he was supposed to be at work.

"What are you doing?" she asks, she's very worried now. Sheldon has seven black overnight bags lined up, there are supplies in neat stacks and piles all around the living room, he has about 10 guns of different types, sizes and calibers laid out on the coffee table, knives lined up on a white sheet on the floor.

She sees him look worried, he looks scared and his eyes look around at everything he has out.

Something in Penny clicks, it's the tv show being interrupted by another breaking news bulletin, 10 more people being admitted for this virus. Penny shuts and locks his door, she walks further into the living room, and he's looking up at her from his kneeling position. "What can I do to help?"

And like that she's dividing the supplies up between all the bags, they each have a name embroidered on them, her hearts melts a little because there are small packs of dog food for one bag in particular. He's still cleaning the guns, putting them in their holsters and setting them all in a hard tactical case, the knives as well.

They work in silence, and unspoken realization coming over them.

After the bags are put neatly back in his closet and the weapons set beside them, you'd never guess what they had just finished doing.

They sit with tea and watch Doctor Who, on dvd because BBC1 is all breaking news right now.

"What if it's nothing?" Penny asks as she watches the Doctor fight some sort of alien.

"Then we are ready for the next one." He says.

"What if it gets worst?" Penny asks and she looks over at Sheldon.

He's sitting staring at the tv, he looks at his lap and licks his lips, he looked directly at her, "don't go into work this week." It's like a demand and a plea and it's said so softly and filled with more emotion then she's seen from him in a while.

It scares her half to death.

She of course does not listen.

* * *

It was only two more days before the weekend, but she was asked to come in, three people in her department fell ill, they won' say what it is, but damn it, they need those reports before Monday.

She's at her desk, trying to forget the stuff she saw on her short trip into work, the extra police, the people packing, the alarming number of people she saw walking really slow and as if they were tired. Not all together, just dotting places, in an ally, crossing the street. It should scare her but it does.

It's been a month since it all began. And she's at her desk looking at the computer screen, the pages a blur to her, her heart is racing because she swore she heard a gunshot outside and damn it she is on the 17th floor.

And then the power goes out. She yelps. This isn't a shocking thing, LA as Brown Outs all the time, but this isn't that. She can hear another gunshot from outside. She doesn't want to look, but she feels like she has to. So she does. It's weird because she sees nothing, cars are still driving, and people are walking down the street.

She starts to relax, everything is fine.

"We're being told to leave the building, power being out and all," his name is Brian and he just scared the shit out of her.

She jumps and almost screams, he's popped his head in her door like nothing is wrong and she looks at him and nods and he only shrugs before he leaves.

She can hear others now, talking and getting ready to head out. She realizes she better do that, she grabs up her purse and her phone. Penny stops short before she leaves her office; she darts back and grabs a phone off her desk. The others are of her parents, her nephew, her and Leonard. One thought, it's small and older, it's of her and her boys, she isn't sure why, but she feels like she should have it.

There are a few people walking down the steps, with each floor they pass, more people join, it's kind of slow going and Penny feels like pushing past everyone and running ahead, she wants to get home, no… she wants to stop at Caltech. She wants to make a phone call but the center stairwell doesn't have any service, so she's anxiously waiting for when they get to the parking lot. She didn't know what they would find.

She nearly bursts out of the door, he parking garage onto the parking garage. She leans for a moment; the concrete wall was cool through her jacket. She was trying to take a breath and calm down. She realized she was on the wrong floor for her car, she walked as calm as she could, she didn't want to panic, nothing was wrong; this was all normal and perfectly fine.

Until it wasn't.

She could see her car parked, some cars drove past her, other people were walking to their vehicles. She was almost to her car, almost inside and safe and in a position to make a phone call. When she noticed a few people gathered around something a couple stalls down. one guy was on his phone, another guy was kneeling next to someone who was on the ground, curled into the fetal position.

Penny should have gotten into her car and drove away. But she walked closer to the scene, the man on the phone looked like he was having trouble connecting the call; the guy kneeling was checking the apparently injured persons pulse.

Penny watched as the man on the ground stopped shaking, there was a pause, those who gathered all looked panicked.

"Shit… I think he's dead, " the man kneeling said.

Penny felt sick.

And then the dead man's eyes popped open, he sat up, grabbed the man who had been kneeling, he screamed, everyone screamed and then there was blood, so much blood. His throat was ripped out.

Penny gasped and stumbled back; she turned and ran back to her car. Other people started to run and scream. The dead man was suddenly on his feet, his attack forgotten, blood dripping from his face, his eyes clouded over; he started to slowly move in the direction of the screams and the running people.

Penny was in her car, she started it up; tears were running down her face, she wanted to scream and cry and run, she put the car in reverse and backed out of the space.

Hitting someone.

"Shit!" Penny screamed, she hit the steering wheel; she wondered if she should get out and check, she still saw people running, and suddenly she could see more people with clouded eyes attacking others in the garage.

A woman threw herself against the driver's side window, she was screaming for help, she was bleeding and then one of those people attacked her, biting the woman's neck and dragging her down. Penny screamed and just sped out of the garage, dodging who she could, she didn't stop for anyone.

She was trying not to have a panic attack, trying not to scream, the streets were in chaos right now, people were running, stuff was on fire; those things were attacking people left and right. She watched a policeman shoot one as many time as he could, but it and another descended upon him, his shots being useless.

Penny wanted to get to Caltech, she had tried her phone but there was no signal. So she decided to go home, she needed to regroup, she needed to see if Sheldon was at home, maybe the landlines were working.

The trip was the longest of her life and she was shocked she made it; she got out of her car and was ready to just bolt to the apartment, get up high and into relative safety, away from whatever the hell was going on out there.

She ran to the entrance and was shocked to see the glass door intact, she ran up the stairs as fast as she could, she almost tripped a few times, she had her keys out, ready to get into the safety of her apartment, try and call Leonard, find out what was going on.

She got her key into the door and she glanced at 4A for a moment, wondering if she should try, later, for now she wanted to change into clothes she could run in, make some phone calls.

She entered her place and she was quickly shoved against the door, it slammed from the impact, a hand over her mouth, covered in leather. Her place was dark. She felt panic for a second until she smelled the baby powder.

"Are you bit?" his tone was very serious and when she could focus in the dark, she saw that his eyes were hard set.

She shook her head no, he let go of her, stepped away and let her stumbled into the apartment, and he locked up the door and turned back to her.

Penny looked at him, he was wearing black jeans, he had his The Flash shirt on, had on a long sleeve button down over that He also had the holster on, guns strapped to that, he looked crazy. But well... Look outside.

"What's going on?" Penny asked, she was trying not to cry.

"Get changed, we need to be ready to run." Sheldon said in a matter of fact way. He walked away from the door and back to the center of the room, her couch had been moved aside and he had everyone's packs ready.

Penny watched him. "I... Should have stayed home." Penny said as it all sort of hit her. the fact that she was almost dead a few times on the way home, that she almost didn't make it… She started to cry.

Sheldon stepped closer to her, he didn't want to see her crying, "Penny... You need to..." He was cut off when Penny pulled him into a hug and cried into his chest. Sheldon wrapped his arms around her, knowing she needed it. He let out a sigh.

"What is happening?" Penny asked, she was still clinging to him. Her sobs subsided and she was trying to control herself. She felt exhausted.

"I don't know."

Penny had never been more terrified of this man not knowing something.

She did change and it was still dark and no one could make any phone calls. Sheldon told her to sleep. She had protested but kept dozing off as the adrenaline coursing through her system wore off. She finally walked to her room and made him sit on her bed, she laid down with his hand on her back as she sat the edge of her bad, his back to the headboard.

"So I know you won't leave me." Penny sounded sad and scared.

"I won't leave you." Sheldon said defensively.

"Just..."

He sighed and rested his hand on her hip.

She fell asleep.

* * *

Penny's eyes shot open and all she saw was darkness. She looked around, sat up. Her heart was racing and then she heard his voice. She calmed down. He was whispering.

"We're not going there." Sheldon said, his tone was serious.

"You don't get to decide! It's safe and we're going there!" Leonard said harshly.

Penny stepped out and she saw Sheldon standing next to Raj who had Cinnamon in his arms.

"They don't allow pets in those places." Raj said with a little puffed out chest.

Leonard glared, "that stupid rodent, it doesn't matter, we need to go with the military, they'll keep us safe." Leonard was getting red faced and angry. He stopped whispering.

"Really?" Leonard asked, tone harsh and annoyed.

"You'll wake Penny," Sheldon said, still whispering.

"I'm awake," Penny said as she walked into the living room. The boys looked surprised and then Leonard darted over and wrapped his arms around her.

"Hey, it's going to be okay." Leonard said trying to console her, it wasn't working.

"What's going on?" Penny asked after she got out of his grasp. Not feeling like cuddling right now.

"The military has set up evacuation points. They have medical and food and a safe place to be until they figure all this out." Leonard said. He smiled at Penny.

"What's wrong with it?" Penny asked she turned to Sheldon; she wanted him to tell her.

"It's going to fall apart within a matter of days... There is no way to prevent this from spreading." Sheldon said. "And on another level. It's too convenient. I don't trust it."

"You don't trust it. Right we're going to listen to the ramblings of a crazy man." Leonard grumbled.

Sheldon sighed; he turned away, "I can't tell anyone what to do. I will not be going anywhere near the military safe zones." Sheldon knelt down and started to go through a bag.

Raj stood there. "I haven't been able to track Howard and Bernie down," Raj said softly.

Penny wanted to cry all over again. she gently rubbed Raj's back. "I'm sure-"

"They're on vacation in Hawaii, unless someone with this disease was on a plane there, they should be okay, islands might be the only place where people are safe." Sheldon said it so robotically and with no emotion, but it made her and Raj feel better, it was like fact, nothing could dispute a fact.

Leonard grasped Penny's hand. She looked at him; she wasn't sure why she was feeling so hostile towards him.

"If we leave now. We can catch one of the trucks going by." Leonard said. "We can grab some things to keep with us." Leonard started to pull her towards the front door.

Penny didn't want to go, she saw how Sheldon looked panicked for a moment, maybe Sheldon was right.

"Wait! Stop! I'm trying to process this!" Penny finally said. She pulled from his grasp. She walked to Sheldon.

"Sheldon, what's your plan?" Penny asked, she was hopeful and scared and well… he had to have a plan.

Sheldon looked up at her from his position on the floor as he looked through a bag, "wait until later tonight and get out of the city. The roads will all be blocked and major traffic jams will be everywhere but the sooner we leave the better. If we can get to where there are less people and open roads we can be okay." Sheldon said as he stood up.

Penny thought about this. "And you don't think the safe zones are safe?" She asked.

Sheldon shook his head, "they want to contain this virus... That means killing it at the source." Sheldon didn't want to scare everyone but he wasn't one to mince words.

Penny looked horrified.

"That's not what is going to happen! This isn't a movie Sheldon! The government doesn't just kill people like that!" Leonard said annoyed.

Sheldon looked at his roommate. "I'm not going." He finally said.

Raj moved to step next to Sheldon. "Sorry man... I'll take my chances on the street."

Penny glanced at Leonard, he looked pissed. Penny looked back at Sheldon who looked very sure, but she could see the pain in his eyes. "I'm not going to a safe zone." Penny finally said.

Sheldon looked surprised. Leonard looked pissed off.

"Penny-"

"No... I trust Sheldon more than I do some safe zone... It's crazy out there and it makes sense to get away from the city." Penny was really hoping that Leonard wouldn't keep fighting her on this.

Leonard looked upset, and then he nodded, "fine, but the safe zone is a good idea." Leonard said before he ran a hand through his hair.

Penny felt some relief wash over her.

That's when all of them jumped when they heard the gunshots. Penny yelped and grabbed onto Sheldon's arm.

Leonard got away from the front door and Raj huddled back behind the askew couch.

Sheldon was shaking. She could feel him shaking; he was just as scared as the rest of them. He just hid it better. Penny was watching the front door, her eyes caught metal reflecting from the side and she looked over and realized that Sheldon had a hand gun out. It was aimed at the floor.

The gunshots stopped, they heard more people screaming. It was as if it was finally spilling onto their street. They waited. They could hear people clearly on the stairs. People were screaming in their hall.

BAM!

Someone hit the door hard, everyone jumped. Sheldon glanced at Raj and Leonard who were now both behind the couch. He looked back at the door.

The knocking hit again, a heavy thud. And it hit again. They heard another scream from the hall, heard people stomping as they ran above them a crash that shook the whole apartment.

"We'll leave in yeah morning when it's light out." Sheldon's words were low and cautious.

Penny still clung to his arm.

* * *

 _Washington DC, 18 months later…._

He watched the scenery pass by outside the window, his blue eyes just looked into the woods that sped by… it was weird being one of the last human beings left on earth. His thoughts were endless and drowned out the deafening silence of the car, everyone was always on edge. Or so he suspected. This was the first time he'd gone out on one of these missions. Volunteering because you felt useless probably wasn't the best idea, but he'd done it anyway.

The car pulled into a lot off the road, and the engine shut off.

"The veterinary hospital is just over there," Arron said as he leaned forward, between the front seats of the Buick. He pointed ahead.

Daryl looked ahead, his eyes squinting, he nodded, "so we gotta make our way past this?" he asked.

Aaron nodded; "you see why I never went alone," his tone was somber.

Sheldon felt sick as he looked at the expanse of the parking lot, dotted with cars, the strip mall wasn't too big, the lot might as well have been an open mine field. A group of walkers were herded along the edge.

Daryl hit Sheldon's upper arm, "hey, you ready, Doc?" he asked, his tone was stern, he had already had regrets at him tagging along.

"As I'll ever be." Sheldon replied before he opened his door.

It wasn't his own life he was fearful of; he'd started to not give a damn about it… this trip being an example of that. He set his boots on the ground as the back passenger door opened.

Penny looked around, her hair up in a messy bun, "Jesus…" she said as she got a good look around.

"Yeah," Sheldon replied before he gently closed the door, he closed hers as she had stepped out and around towards Aaron and Daryl.

Everyone met at the hood, "the vet is right over there, between us and it, well we gotta get past all this shit, we stay in one group, I'll take up the rear, keep our eyes and ears open, not so much worried about walkers as I am about people," Daryl said.

There was a silent agreement; Sheldon checked his 12 gauge sawed off that sat low on his hip in its holster and his rifle that he kept across his back. Penny had her machete and her hand gun of her own, her holster attached to her belt.

Daryl had about three guns on him, his crossbow taken away from him a while ago, but he was a good shot. The automatic rifle was in his grasp at the ready.

Penny looked around for a moment before she reached out and gently tugged on Sheldon's flannel, he looked up and over at her from checking his bullets, she gave him a tiny smile, he only nodded slightly.

Aaron led the way as the tight group slowly moved across the lot.

Breaking the glass and getting the door opened, it seemed like no one else had touched the vet, still cautious, they moved through the dark rooms, checking for surprises, Sheldon followed behind Penny, he had a knapsack out, he was gathering drugs, flashlight stuck between his teeth.

Penny had her gun out, looking around as he got what they needed. "I know you're mad." Penny whispered.

Sheldon stopped gathering needed medications for a moment; he recovered and went back to getting what they needed.

"I know you would prefer it if I didn't go on these things." Penny said. "And you giving me the silent treatment isn't going to… Sheldon." Penny sounded sad and angry.

Sheldon stopped what he was doing and looked at her; she reached and pulled the flashlight from between his teeth gently.

"Talk to me." She asked gently.

Sheldon looked anywhere but at her, "there is nothing for me to say." He replied simply.

Penny sighed, "Why did you come out here?" she demanded. She was getting into his personal space, which at this point, was nonexistent.

Sheldon looked down, "because I know how to pronounce all these big words." He said it with his eye looking into hers.

Penny narrowed her eyes for a moment. And then she heard it.

Sheldon was faster, the walker seemed to come out of nowhere, Sheldon's gun was out and he shot it. His gun had a silencer on it. The walker dropped. He stuffed the gun back into his underarm holster and let out a shaky breath.

Penny had stumbled back into Sheldon's chest. She was shocked.

"We should rejoin the others." Sheldon said as he gently pushed her ahead and then walked past her.

"Thanks," Penny said still stunned.

They came across Aaron and Daryl standing outside of the vet, they had hard looks on their faces.

Sheldon made sure his pack was secure, he was about to ask what was going on, but Penny spotted it first.

Six men were walking towards them, they were armed, and they looked like a scary group. Well to others they would have been scary. It took a lot to shake them these days.

The six men stopped about 20 feet from the four of them; the six were spread out just enough.

"How y'all doing?" one man asked, he had a white dirty beard, was older than the rest.

Silence followed that greeting, no one wanting to say anything, everyone on edge.

The older man smirked, "not too friendly, that's okay! We was just walking by when we saw yer car, engine was still warm so we wanted to investigate." The older man said with a grin.

"We were just about to leave." Daryl finally said, "We'd like to be able to do that." Daryl was looking at the old man, but he was paying attention to one man who had been slowly moving further to the side.

"We're just being friendly; in fact maybe we could trade." The older man said it as he shot a glance at Penny.

Sheldon tightened his grip on his sawed off 12 gauge. He only used it when he absolutely had to.

"No, we're good," Daryl said. He really wanted to get a move on.

Everyone was sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop, each side knowing how this was going to end, it felt like minutes passed, but it was only seconds,, everything happened at once.

The man to the left, who'd been moving, he stepped on a twig, the low snap started everything, Sheldon pulled the 12 gauge, he was fast and pulled the trigger, the man had a hole in his chest now, as he stood in shock and then he dropped to the ground.

There was a small moment of pause…

Daryl pulled his hand gun and got two shots off, hitting one man in the head, another in the neck.

Aaron fired at the older man, hitting him in the chest.

Penny had shot the fifth man in the head; he'd already aimed his gun, but was dead after his shot went off.

The last man, had started to run in the other direction. Into a hoard of walkers.

"We gotta go!" Daryl shouted.

They were ready to run; Aaron was taking the dead men's weapons.

And then Penny felt blood on her leg, she looked over shocked, and then she realized that Sheldon was on the ground, "Sheldon!" Penny screamed as she dropped to her knees; he'd been shot in the chest.

Daryl ran over, he saw the wound, he shoved his pack and gun at Penny and he grabbed Sheldon up, hoisted him up, arm over his shoulder and started to move as fast as he could, "let's go!" he grunted.

Aaron drove as fast and carefully as he could, Penny was in back with Sheldon's head in her lap as she kept pressure on his chest, Sheldon was blinking, he was in shock. The wound was more on his shoulder then chest, but he was losing blood.

"Shit, go faster!" Daryl yelled after he looked back to see what was going on.

He couldn't keep losing people like this. Not over stupid crap.

* * *

 _About 16 months earlier…_

Leonard was pacing back and forth, he was annoyed, really annoyed. "They should be back by now." Leonard said as he stopped pacing and looked at Raj as if he'd know what to do.

"Calm down dude, this isn't their first run, they'll be fine." Raj sounded tired.

"But why does she always have to go?" Leonard asked, his voice getting whiny.

Raj gave him this look before he propped his bandaged leg up on the table, "I'm out of commission and you can't shoot for shit... I think we know why." Raj said.

Leonard couldn't argue with that logic.

They'd been on the road for almost 2 months, they drove to Texas... left the Cooper household, to let Sheldon deal with what they found inside. All of them pretended they didn't hear him scream in emotional agony as soon as they stepped out the door. When he finally came back out, wiping a blood covered knife on a piece of torn cloth, he acted as if nothing had happened.

There were somewhere in Georgia now, they found a small neighborhood and house to hold up in, they had no choice but to stop, Raj nearly lost his leg when a car they were driving wrecked, so they had to rest.

"Yeah we know why alright." Leonard was angry again, he'd ben letting something fester for a while no, it was how Penny seemed to be at Sheldon's side all the time, how Sheldon was so good at all of this, how Sheldon kept being right.

It was jealousy, he knew it, but it was rightfully so, Sheldon was moving in on his wife. Screw it being the end of the world, that wasn't okay.

They heard the truck pull up; Leonard pulled the door open and stepped out onto the porch.

Sheldon was smiling, actually smiling as Penny said something to him as she rounded the truck to join him on his side, she touched his back and he nodded. Leonard's anger was boiling over now.

"Took you both long enough" Leonard barked, he was trying not to sound whiny.

Sheldon's smile slipped off his face, "we ran into a herd... they were going the other way so we should be fine." Sheldon explained.

Penny nodded, "but we didn't run into any people," Penny said as she walked up to Leonard with a box of supplies. She handed it to him, he leaned in for a kiss, but she was moving back towards the truck before he could try it.

"That's good, Sheldon we should go out on a run sometimes, i could use some training with shooting." Leonard said suddenly.

Sheldon shook his head, "we need to conserve ammo... but you could come along."

Leonard grinned, but the grin was an odd one, "great," he said.

Penny noticed the grin, she had been noticing his behavior for a while now, and that's part of why she'd been sticking close to Sheldon for so long. She didn't like to think this about Leonard, but this new world... it made people a little crazy.

* * *

When they ran into the big red head named Abe and the girl named Rosita, they had a hard time trusting these two, but they seemed decent, the six were soon a traveling group, bigger numbers were safer and better. More people to keep watch, more people fight the dead with… and the living.

They stayed like that for a few weeks, and then on a dusty road through Georgia, they found a girl named Tara, and her almost dying friend named Glenn.

Sheldon and his group bonded with the new additions quickly, something about them just came across as them being good. Penny called it a gut feeling, Sheldon sniffed and mumbled about that being 'hokum'.

It was while they were all stopped in small house in the woods, when it all went to shit.

Leonard wanted to go hunting, saying now was the time, Sheldon agreed to go with him, Penny had offered to come but the group needed her, they were going over their next plan and well they kind of saw her as second in command (in hushed tones, the group sans Sheldon, Leonard and Penny talked, and it seemed they knew who was truly in charge.)

So they left, and Penny felt sick and wondered if she would ever see either of them again.

It was when they got to a clearing, opting to walk on foot, not to scare away any potential prey, that Leonard finally had it.

"Are you sleeping with Penny?" he finally asked.

Sheldon almost tripped over his own feet, "what?!" he asked shocked.

Leonard turned to him, "you heard me!" he stepped closer to get in Sheldon's face.

Sheldon didn't move, "Leonard… You're clearly stressed, maybe we should head back." His tone was calm and that bothered Leonard.

"Answer the question!" Leonard barked.

"Keep your voice down, and the answer is no, first of all, when would we ever have the time to do so?" Sheldon asked, "and furthermore, you should not be dragging me into your marital issues." Sheldon said.

Leonard looked at him, "you're insane!" He barked.

Sheldon narrowed his eyes at the shorter man. He couldn't help it. Automatic reply and all that, "I'm not insane, my mother had me-" he didn't get to finish. Leonard's fist connected with his nose. Sheldon crashed to the ground; he was more stunned then anything.

"You don't know how long I've wanted to do that!" Leonard shouted. He shook his hand out, never having actually hit anyone before.

Sheldon sat up slowly; blood was coming from his nose. He was in pain and angry, but he didn't want to keep fighting. "Are you done with your tantrum?" Sheldon asked. He was getting ready to stand up.

Leonard narrowed his eyes, annoyed at how Sheldon wasn't taking this seriously or seeming to care. "How come all of this isn't effecting you!?" He ran a hand through his hair, "you're still some emotionless robot!" Leonard spat, "you haven't even brought up Amy, remember her?". He thought of something worst. "or are you too busy screwing the whore?!"

That hit Sheldon, he froze as he got up, and he looked up at Leonard. "Take that back." He said it low and calm. He could handle a lot, but attacking Penny was a no.

"No! she is a whore!" Leonard shouted it. He looked smug.

And Sheldon was up and he charged at Leonard, his shoulder connecting with Leonard's chest. Both crashed to the ground.

Sheldon swung his fist and punched Leonard across the face, "take it back!" Sheldon screamed. His hands gripped Leonard's shirt and he shook him. "Take it back!" Sheldon demanded.

"This is all it took?!" Leonard asked, he almost laughed. "All it took to get Mr. 'I have everything under control', to lose it?"

When Sheldon realized how mad he got, he let go of Leonard's shirt, he was breathing heavy. He looked at his own hands, he wasn't a violent man. And then, had Leonard not glanced over, Sheldon would have missed it.

The Walker was about to bite his arm. Sheldon dove away from it, he landed on his back, and the Walker followed him and landed on top. Half its mouth was missing. Its teeth gnashed.

Sheldon shoved its face away as far as he could as he reached for his gun, and put a hole in its head.

He shoved the dead thing aside; he rested on the ground, out of breath and scared half to death. That was so close. Swallowing thickly, Sheldon looked above him. There was Leonard, standing over him, with his gun drawn.

"I didn't want to have to do it this way." Leonard said.

Sheldon could raise his gun and try and get a shot off but he might be too late. "Leonard don't." Sheldon said it as calm as he could.

"Oh, but you were bit... I had to." Leonard said it, his voice was distant. He looked a little crazy in the eyes.

"Leonard... Leonard!" Sheldon yelled. It was too late. Another Walker had latched onto Leonard's shoulder. Leonard buckled and fell to the ground under the pain.

Sheldon aimed and fired. The Walker let go, falling next to Leonard. Sheldon crawled over to him and helped him to sit up against a tree. Blood was pouring from the wound; Leonard had his hand over it, gasping.

"I need to… we need to get back to the house and get this treated..." Sheldon was in mild panic, he saw the bite, right along his lower neck.

Leonard pushed Sheldon back. "There's nothing you can do!" He bit back.

"Yes there is! We can... Shit!" Sheldon ran a hand through his hair.

Leonard rested his head back against the tree, "I brought you out here so I could leave you... Ironic, hu?" He asked before coughing a little, the virus set in faster these days.

"It's not ironic! We need go back, you need to at least say goodbye to Penny and Rajesh," Sheldon reached down to help him up.

Leonard batted his hand away, "I try to kill you and you're still trying to help me?" He asked. Sheldon looks confused. "Guess you are the better man. Try not to let Penny know how much of a coward I was..."

Sheldon was feeling sick, he'd had to put his Meemaw and mom down, he'd had to kill at least three people who were alive, but strangers and a threat. He hadn't had to deal with losing someone close to him like this.

"You're going to be fine..." Sheldon's voice was low, he watched Leonard and thought of the last 10 years. He looked down, "Leonard you can't..."

"You have no control over this..." Leonard sighed, "I'm going to be an even bigger asshole now, ready? I need you to shoot me before I turn." Leonard said bitterly.

Sheldon shook his head, "I'm not killing you..." Sheldon let a tear slip by.

"Well you have to... Just... Do it quick... I don't want to be one of those things." Leonard grabbed up his gun that fell by the wayside and handed it over to Sheldon.

Sheldon grimaced, he couldn't let Leonard turn, and he couldn't just leave him here like this. Sheldon took the gun from him.

"Take care of Penny." Leonard whispered.

Sheldon watched as Leonard's eyes shut, he aimed the gun near the side of his head, he didn't want to, but he pulled the trigger.

The noise echoed through the woods and Sheldon dropped the gun before he dropped to his knees.

* * *

"I heard gunshots, four of them." Penny said as she stood on the porch waiting. She'd been waiting all afternoon, worried sick.

"They're fine..." Abe said from his post on the front porch. Penny ignored him and went inside.

"We need to go out and get them." Penny said to Glenn as she walked up to him. "They're out there and I don't trust Leonard right now." Penny finally said it out loud.

Glenn looked confused, "why don't you trust him?"

"He's... He's been acting crazy jealous and-"

"They're back!" Tara shouted from the window.

Penny started to run back to the front door, Glenn followed, and Rosita helped Raj up and held him up as he hobbled to the door.

"Oh shit." Tara said suddenly.

The positive air in the room was sucked out as everyone walked to the door.

Abe had already started to walk towards the site, but he stopped short.

Sheldon had Leonard fireman style over his shoulder, as soon as he was close enough to the house; he dropped him off his shoulder and onto the ground. Sheldon stood there looking at everyone who had come to greet them. But his eyes stayed on Penny who was looking at the lifeless body of Leonard on the ground.

No one said anything and Penny started to walk towards him, Sheldon was bracing for getting hit, he was bracing for being yelled at, hurt in some way for what had happened.

Penny was close and looked up at Sheldon, she had tears in her eyes, and then she grabbed Sheldon's arm and pulled him closer and buried her face in his chest.

Sheldon was shocked for only a moment before he wrapped his arms tightly around her, holding her close, he let himself cry to.

Raj hung his head and leaned against Rosita for support, trying to fight the urge to cry.

* * *

Now…

Sheldon's eyes shot open, he looked around the dark room, he was sweating and breathing heavy, nightmares plagued him almost every night, and this was his normal way of waking up. He started to calm down when he realized that there were no walkers hovering over him, no screams from anyone innocent. He rolled over and sat up, gritting his teeth in pain, confused he looked and saw his shoulder and chest were wrapped up, his mind started to race, he'd been shot.

He didn't remember anything after that, he felt sick, was Penny okay? He stood up and walked to the door of his bedroom, only when he opened the door he yelped and jumped back, "Penny… don't do that." Sheldon said hand on his chest.

Penny almost smiled, "I heard you moving around, how are you?" she asked as she walked into his room, he backed up, letting her in.

"Not sure… is everyone else okay?" Sheldon asked as he thought of Daryl and Aaron.

"Yeah… we're all okay… you trying to be the hero though…" Penny didn't look too pleased by that.

Sheldon sighed, "yeah I… I'm sorry." He sat on his bed and Penny stood before him.

"Don't be sorry, just… I know you're not happy about me going outside of the walls." Penny started to say, she stepped closer to him and ran her fingers through his messy hair, he let her. "But I can't stay in here all the time; I'm more useful out there." She said it gently.

"Then let me go with you… we can be a team… I'm certainly useless here. Not even a medical doctor." Sheldon said with a huff. "At least Raj has some training, I can't help anyone, and physics is 100% useless these days." Sheldon had shut his eyes and was resting his forehead on her flat stomach. Enjoying the calm that fell over him.

"As long as you don't keep getting yourself shot, you're pretty useful." Penny said with a teasing tone in her voice. "I'd like it if you came… as much as I trust the others, I only trust you to have my back." She gently tugged on his hair and he looked up at her confused, and then she was crawling into his lap, straddling his hips, she settled down and was careful of his shoulder.

Sheldon was at a loss of words, on the one hand… he'd been resisting this for years… on the other hand he was so overwhelmed because Penny smelled sweet and clean the opposite of the outside world and she was warm and soft.

She stayed on top as he scooted back and his head hit the pillow, "then it's a deal then, we're a box set… can't break us up." Penny whispered as she rested her head on his chest, her hand gently scratching the center of his chest counterclockwise.

"Did you just use an analogy based on collectibles?" Sheldon asked.

"Yup." Penny giggled lightly.

Sheldon held her close using his good arm; Penny sat up just enough and leaned in…

And explosion rocked the room, they both jumped apart, they could hear gunshots and people shouting.

Sheldon cursed as they climbed from the bed.

They just couldn't catch a break.

* * *

 **A/N:Wow! Well that happened, R &R folks!**


End file.
